Pre-asthma: a useful concept? A EUFOREA paper. Part 2-late onset eosinophilic asthma.

The concept of pre-diabetes has led to provision of measures to reduce disease progression through identification of subjects at risk of diabetes. We previously considered the idea of pre-asthma in relation to allergic asthma and considered that, in addition to the need to improve population health via multiple measures, including reduction of exposure to allergens and pollutants and avoidance of obesity, there are several possible specific means to reduce asthma development in those most at risk (pre- asthma). The most obvious is allergen immunotherapy (AIT), which when given for allergic rhinitis (AR) has reasonable evidence to support asthma prevention in children (2) but also needs further study as primary prevention.

Pre-asthma: a useful concept for prevention and disease-modification? A EUFOREA paper. Part 1-allergic asthma.

Asthma, which affects some 300 million people worldwide and caused 455,000 deaths in 2019, is a significant burden to suffers and to society. It is the most common chronic disease in children and represents one of the major causes for years lived with disability. Significant efforts are made by organizations such as WHO in improving the diagnosis, treatment and monitoring of asthma.

Current Controversies and Future Prospects for Peanut Allergy Prevention, Diagnosis and Therapies.

Peanut allergy has increased substantially in the past few decades, both in developed and developing countries. Peanut allergy has become a major public health concern, affecting up to 1 in 50 children, with repercussions for school and airline policies. Recent research findings have shown that, contrary to the long-standing teaching of "delayed" introduction of allergens, early introduction of peanut protein is of benefit as an allergy prevention strategy, especially in high-risk cases.

BCG Vaccination in HIV-Infected Children.

Despite the use of Bacillus Calmette-Guérin (BCG) vaccination for many years, infants and young children exposed to adults with infectious forms of tuberculosis (TB) are at high risk of developing complicated TB disease. This risk is much higher among HIV-infected children, and data on BCG protective efficacy in HIV-infected children is lacking. Recent research on BCG safety in HIV-infected infants has resulted in policy shifts, but implementation is challenging.

Short-term mortality and implementation of antiretroviral treatment for critically ill HIV-infected children in a developing country.

Objective: To describe the short-term outcome of critically ill HIV-infected children with access to highly active antiretroviral therapy (HAART) in a developing region.

Methods: Prospective observational study conducted in a paediatric teaching hospital in Cape Town, South Africa. All children admitted to the paediatric intensive care unit (PICU) with suspected HIV infection were screened.

Diagnosis and management of community-acquired pneumonia in childhood--South African Thoracic Society Guidelines.

Background: Community-acquired pneumonia (CAP) is a major cause of morbidity and mortality in South African children. The incidence, severity and spectrum of childhood pneumonia have changed owing to the HIV epidemic. Increasing emergence of antimicrobial resistance necessitates a rational approach to the use of antibiotics in pneumonia management.

Withdrawal of parenteral phenobarbitone--implications for resource-poor countries.

Parenteral phenobarbitone is an integral part of the management of status epilepticus, especially in the context of resource-poor countries. It is highly effective at controlling seizures. It is safe, cheap, can be given by rapid intravenous push or intramuscular route, boluses can be repeated, and it is recommended as part of the Advanced Paediatric Life Support guidelines.

Initial experience of a public sector antiretroviral treatment programme for HIV-infected children and their infected parents.

Objective: To describe the initial experience of treating HIV-infected children and their infected parents with antiretroviral therapy.

Design: Prospective, cohort study.

Setting: Tertiary, referral hospital.

Observer variation in detecting lymphadenopathy on chest radiography.

Objective: To assess inter- and intra-observer agreement in the detection of lymphadenopathy on chest radiography in children at risk for tuberculosis.

Patients And Methods: Retrospective examination of the antero-posterior and lateral chest radiographs of children aged 1 month to 11 years discharged from the short-stay ward of the Red Cross Children's Hospital, Cape Town, with a diagnosis of tuberculosis or pneumonia. Four paediatric pulmonologists viewed the radiographs independently.

An effectiveness trial of a diagnostic test in a busy outpatients department in a developing country: issues around allocation concealment and envelope randomization.

Methods to ensure allocation concealment in a randomized controlled trial in a busy outpatients department may disrupt usual clinical behavior, and thereby modify the effect of a diagnostic test. In a clinical trial of chest radiography in ambulatory children, concealment was maintained by means of sealed sequentially numbered manila envelopes. Baseline information was collected on all potential participants before they were presented to a clinician for a decision on inclusion in the trial.

Telephone follow-up in a randomized controlled trial in a less developed country: feasibility, validity and representativeness.

Telephone follow-up would offer considerable advantages over other modes of follow-up in less developed countries, if it were feasible and the findings were valid and generalizable. Telephone follow-up was assessed in the context of a randomized controlled trial of chest radiography in South African children. Hospital-based clinical outcomes were measured from hospital records, and also by telephone, in a subset of the same patients who offered a contact telephone number.

Randomised controlled trial of clinical outcome after chest radiograph in ambulatory acute lower-respiratory infection in children.

Background: When available, chest radiographs are used widely in acute lower-respiratory-tract infections in children. Their impact on clinical outcome is unknown.

Methods: 522 children aged 2 to 59 months who met the WHO case definition for pneumonia were randomly allocated to have a chest radiograph or not.

Velopharyngeal incompetence after adenotonsillectomy in non-cleft patients.

This report discusses 15 non-cleft palate children who developed velopharyngeal incompetence (VPI) after adenotonsillectomy. Eight boys and 7 girls with a mean age of 6.2 years (range 4.